Witch: Unleashed. Untamed. Unapologetic.

by Lisa Lister

If you have a social media platform, you’re being called to have an opinion. To potentially disagree with people you care about in order to share your truth and what’s real for you.

what I’ve come to realize is that how I show up is irrelevant. It’s in the act of showing up itself that we really claim the power back.

E4E

So I keep showing up: imperfect and unedited. And not always by choice, if I’m honest. For the most part, I’d MUCH rather sit in a blanket fort, sipping tea, eating peanut butter and banana on toast and reading a good book.

Yet I keep showing up, and I stand rooted in the unedited, sometimes messy and very rarely glossy experience of my truth. I share from where I’m at, to give other women the permission to do the same.

‘It is safe for me to be powerful.’

As women, it’s our responsibility to make it safe for each other to be powerful.

What i do

It’s time for us to tell OUR story. Because the story we tell is the world we make. Real voices. Not the voice of the ‘good girl’ who says what she thinks others want her to say so they’ll like her more. Not an over-rehearsed speech. Not a carbon-copy of someone else’s truth. Your truth. Your story. Your real.

You must go into the places you’ve been taught to be afraid of. Because THAT? That’s where your power is.

We have to practise love and compassion for ourselves and for other women when we fuck up (because we inevitably will!) This is new territory for all of us, and we’re ALL remembering how to trust ourselves and each other.

what we’re currently experiencing – the raping and the pillaging of Mumma Earth and her resources, fracking, deforestation, the disrespect and total disregard for our planet? That’s a direct mirror of how Patriarchy has treated the feminine.

We feel that it’s our responsibility to save the world, but actually, our job isn’t to save the planet.

Instead, what we actually need to worry about is our own actions and behaviours and treatment of her. We need to see them as a reflection of the actions and treatment of women.

And when we feel, heal and save ourselves; we feel, heal and save the world.

That feeling, healing and saving will get messy. Of course it will. Transition is always messy. But there’s a reason you’re here, this lifetime. It’s because you can handle it.

‘White people can’t heal until they come to terms with the witch persecutions. The brutal murder of women in European history has separated those of us with that heritage from our indigenous roots.’

Are you hiding intuitive hits, gifts and abilities? If so, why?

Repeat the mantra: ‘I am safe. It is safe for me to be in my body.’

Remember that we’re never alone in this. We might feel lonely at different points, but being alone is a choice. We can choose no longer to feel alone. We can believe that we’ve never been alone.

Ask the divine mother, goddess, SHE, All That Is. Ask her to help you feel all your fire ignite those flames, and ask her to walk with you.

every day, on waking, he asks, ‘What can I do to support you in doing the work you do?’ THIS is the work of the men right now.

it’s to be able to be with that wildness, that darkness and those shadows and edges. To hold space for women to explore, nurture and most importantly, express all those thoughts and support them and love them wholeheartedly as they do. It’s to use their big, beating, pulsating-with-love hearts to ask women what the fuck they can do to support them as they wake.

So many of us have, which is why we’ve been born in these times. We have to feel, expose and express the mess, anger, frustration and continued fucking injustice and mistreatment of girls and women. Of all of us living now, and of all the women who have gone before us and all who have yet to come.

The good news is that he’s making it visible. For so long, this has been bubbling away – unreported and unseen – and now it’s rising to the surface. It has to be seen, it has to be felt, before it can be healed. It has to be brought out into the light so that we can see how destructive and divisive a force it is.

as Patriarchy begins slowly to crumble, it will try desperately to hold on.

It’s safe. You’re safe. We’re safe.

Feel the energy of the witch – the repressed feminine magic and power. The energy of the wise and wild woman who holds the secrets of Mumma Earth – her cycles, her rhythms and her nature. Know that you’re an ancestress of what is to come. Bring the witch back to life and into conversation. Come together in support of each other and not in competition.

Overlap

This will be what REALLY messes with Patriarchy: women standing together and encouraging each other. And not in a social-media-friendly photo opportunity way either, but by having conscious, brave and real conversations with each other.

By calling each other in, and not calling each other out. By helping each other to put back the pieces, to become whole and to feel fully supported withou...

I realized that while self-sourcing and trusting ourselves and our inner knowledge are key components of becoming a witch who is awake, we’re also all desperately trying to figure out how to gain each other’s trust again. We’re all trying to be visible in a world that Patriarchy has tried to erase us from. We’re trying to collaborate from a real place of truth.

Really explore the tales you’ve been told about who you should be, how you should be and what you should be. Unearth and shine light on every way you’ve ever been disconnected, dis-embodied, dis-eased and dis-membered. Strip them off, one by one, like the goddess Inanna did as she descended into the Under World. There’s a chance that doing this may get a little dark as you dig deep. But that’s okay. We’re not afraid of the dark any more, remember? And then, like Inanna on her ascent (because it’s ALL cyclic, and you can always come back to the light), decide what still fits, what you want to keep and what you no longer need.

You realize you’ve got work to do – witch work. You’ve got art to make, people to heal, roots to tend to, humans to create, houses to build, networks to construct, rituals to craft, stories to write, magic to manifest and revolutions to start.

five-pointed pentagram in the air. It’s the universal symbol of the witch, and one you’ll find when you cut through the centre of an apple – you know, the fruit that Eve was banished from Eden for eating.

The Force of Nature: SHE who cannot be controlled The Creatrix: SHE who dreams, manifests and makes magic The Oracle: SHE who trusts her intuition and sees all things The Healer: SHE who heals herself and heals the world The Sorceress: SHE who is charmed, dangerous and not afraid of the dark

We eat fruit out of season, and we plan our rest time in the form of one- or two-week holidays and weekend getaways. We even take synthetic hormones to ‘manage’ our monthly cycles. We try to replace those cycles with control and sameness, instead of recognizing them as our power source. After all, it’s our cyclic natures and direct relationships with Mumma Earth that make us – make YOU – a force that simply cannot be controlled.

A woman who’s NOT consistent. A woman who ebbs and flows – mentally, emotionally and physically – each month. And as a witch – no pressure – it’s your job to return to the ways of the Earth, the cycles and the seasons with complete remembrance and reverence.

When people talk of Sabbats, they’re talking about the spaces of time between astrological movements which farmers and those who worked the land used to mark the turning of the wheel. I work with the Celtic Wheel of the Year, because I’m based in the UK and at times, when life gets too real-lifey, it plugs me back in to the motherboard. (It’s also a great excuse to celebrate all that Mumma Nature offers us eight times a year!)

Northern Hemisphere Southern Hemisphere Samhain October 31 April 30/May 1 Winter Solstice/Yule December 21/22 June 21 Imbolc February 2 August 1 Spring Equinox/Ostara March 21/22 September 21/22 Beltane May 1 October 31/November 1 Summer Solstice/Litha June 21/22 December 21/22 Lughnasadh/Lammas July 31/August 1 February 1/2 Autumnal Equinox/Mabon September 21/22 March

Samhain (usually said ‘sow-en’) is an ancient Celtic Fire festival. Much like Mexico’s indigenous custom of Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, it focuses on honouring, remembering and paying respect to the Dead – our ancestors who have gone before – through ritual, ceremony and celebration.

This is a time for introspection; and I invite you to use this season to draw your own energy in and prepare for Winter.

Write a list of everything you want to let go of – people, experiences, challenges and habits. Then cast that list into the Samhain flames, allowing it all to be burned into ashes. Circle the fire clockwise, and visualize yourself rising from the flames: new, energized and revitalized, ready for the year ahead. Now – and this is my favourite part – use tarot, runes, scrying or your favourite method of divination to seek guidance for the year to come.

This festival is named after the Anglo-Saxon Goddess Eostre or Eastre, also known in Old German as Ostara. Little is known about this goddess, except that her festival was celebrated at the Spring Equinox, which became Easter; that she was a goddess of fertility; and that she was connected with hares and eggs.

What you’ll need: 125ml/4fl oz/½ cup Riesling wine 1 egg 65g/2¾oz/⅔ cup plain flour 340g/11¾oz/1 cup honey 2 tbsp sugar ⅛ tsp cinnamon ⅛ tsp nutmeg Dash of salt What to do: Beat the egg together with the wine in a bowl. In another mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, sugar and salt. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir until blended into a smooth batter. Let it sit for 30 minutes. In another small bowl, mix the honey and nutmeg. In a skillet, heat up about a 1cm/½ inch of coconut oil. Drop 1 tbsp batter into the oil, and fry until golden brown. Drain off the oil, and dip the cake into the honey mixture.

Esbats are moon rites; and to a witch, they are just as important as the Sabbats – they’re the time for all magical workings. While the Sabbats are fire and sun festivals to celebrate the changing of the seasons, Esbats are dedicated to the moon in her various phases. They’re a way to honour SHE, the Goddess. These are considered the ‘working’ celebrations: the time when a witch works to attract, invoke protection, banish or perform spells.

New Moon Magic This time is used for personal growth, healing and blessing new projects or ventures. It’s also a good time to consecrate new tools and objects you wish to use during rituals, ceremonies or an upcoming festival.

Between the new and full moon is a period of the waxing moon. This time is used for attraction magic, love spells, protection and healing energy for couples.

Full Moon Magic This time is used to banish unwanted influences in your life. It’s also ideal for creating protection magic, performing divination, setting up plans and releasing old patterns or issues. Full moon magic can be conjured during the three days before the rise of the full moon, the night of the full moon and during the three days afterwards.

Between the full moon and the dark moon is the period of the waning moon. Use it to banish and reject those things that influence you in a negative way. Let go of negative emotions, diseases, ailments and bad habits; and perform special spells for clearing.

The dark moon period occurs three days before seeing the sliver of the new moon in the sky. This is the time when you can’t see the moon in any phase. Typically, no magic is performed during this period: it’s time to give yourself a break, turn inwards and replenish your own energies. Vision quests, yoga nidra and deep meditations are great in this phase to help you focus on personal matters, questions and answers.

Blue Moon This occurs when the full moon appears twice in the same month during its 28-day cycle. This typically occurs in months with 31 days. It’s also called a Goal Moon, and is used to set goals for your life. Use it to acknowledge any mistakes you might have made, and to review lessons that will help you improve your life and set new goals specifically for those issues.

You’ll notice that the more aligned you are with yourself, the more your true nature awakens. And the more aligned you are with your true nature, the more aligned you are with the Earth and her cycles and seasons. After all, nature is the feminine, and your body and the Earth are one. You are a FORCE OF NATURE.